The Kansas City Chiefs clinched the top seed in the AFC with Patrick Mahomes throwing three touchdowns in a dominant 29-10 Christmas Day win at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday.
The defending Super Bowl champions will now have a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs but a third straight loss for the Steelers means they no longer control their own destiny in the race for the AFC North divisional title.
The Chiefs (15-1) look to be hitting their prime form at just the right time but the Steelers (10-6), who have also clinched a post-season berth, have now lost three in a row and sit behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.
Mahomes, who threw for 320 yards on 29 of 38 passing, was in charge from the outset, finding Xavier Worthy with a seven-yard touchdown pass before connecting with Justin Watson on an 11-yard pass to open up a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Steelers thought they had got back in the game when Jaylen Warren ran into the end-zone but the score was ruled out by a holding penalty.
The frustration was increased on the next play when Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson was picked off by Justin Reid.
Pittsburgh did give themselves some hope in the second quarter with Wilson finishing off a 72-yard, 11-play drive, with a one-yard rush.
The teams exchanged field goals in the third before the Chiefs ran away with the game in the fourth.
A two-yard rush from Kareem Hunt made it 22-10 and then Mahomes found his trusted target Travis Kelce in the end-zone with a 12-yard pass to settle the contest.
Kelce, caught eight passes for 84 yards to pass the 1,000 receptions mark, only the third tight-end to achieve that milestone after Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten.
“I thought it was a full team performance,” said Mahomes.
“Defense stepped up, offense stepped up, everybody had their imprint on the game,” he said.
“We are getting healthy at the right time, the big guy (Kelce) leads us off but we have got guys everywhere so it’s nice,” he added.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was frank in his assessment of his team’s loss, which follows defeats to the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore.
“That sucked, to be blunt,” said Tomlin, “Not the type of ball we wanna play and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we are not doing the fundamental things well enough.
“The bottom line is that it’s junior varsity. Not good enough. We need to own that but also look at what we need to do different,” he added.
There was no sign of the Ravens stumbling at the finishing line to the regular season, with reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson at his dynamic best in an emphatic 31-2 win at Houston.
Jackson threw for two touchdowns and 168 yards and brilliantly ran in another score as he made a strong case for a third MVP award.
Jackson also ran 87 yards on four carries which ensured he replaced Michael Vick as the NFL’s all-time leading quarterback in rushing yards.
Vick had put up 6,109 yards in his career but Jackson has broken that record while having played in 41 fewer games than the former Atlanta Falcons star.
The Texans, who have already clinched the AFC South, looked second best from the outset when Derrick Henry powered into the end-zone to open the scoring.
Henry gave up a safety to give the Texans some hope at 10-2 but then Jackson, improvising out of the pocket, found Isaiah Likely for a touchdown to open up a 15-point lead.
Jackson then showed his unmatched effectiveness as a running quarterback as he found a gap and then sprinted 48 yards to put the game beyond Houston.
A one-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Mark Andrews finished off the rout for the Ravens’ third win in 11 days.
The Ravens’ final regular season game is at the Cincinnati Bengals and victory will secure them the AFC North title.
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